Posted on 04/15/2005 5:09:20 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
Oh, so Jefferson's views on religious freedom are irrelevant? I'm happy to know you think so. It's really no surprise.
We can do it without stooping to their level. We can do it by offering clearer arguments for what we think are superior laws and legal enforcements. We really have no choice. It's the fate of democratic governments to face threats from all sides. The only way to win is to be right more often than the other guys.
Certainly, no power to prescribe any religious exercise or to assume authority in religious discipline has been delegated to the General Government. It must rest with the States, as far as it can be in any human authority - Thomas Jefferson, letter to Samuel Miller, Jan. 23, 1808Now it's up to YOU to explain why Jefferson was wrong! I agree with him!
Why wouldn't Jefferson then go on to say that there should be separation of church and state within the individual states? The two positions of championing states rights and supporting separation of church and state within those states is not mutually exclusive.
Why shouldn't states also uphold religious freedom by separating church and state? Why would you want to live in a state that imposed religious faith on its citizens? It would appear that some of our most contentious states have the strongest language regarding separation of church and state in their own constitutions!
Because it wasn't up to him. Nor was the federal Constitution, which he had nothing to do with.
Your problem is that you simply ignore history in order to cling to your leftist delusions. The Bill of Rights was not applied to the states until after the civil war. That does not change the fact that the First amendment does not reach beyond forbidding the establishment of a religion. This was the doctrine extended to the states, not the nonexistent principle of complete non-interference in anything religious, which was never the meaning of the First amendment, and so does not apply to the states either.
You're ignoring the whole reason for the argument in the first place: that religious authority in government, especially held by individual government officials willing to abuse their authority, is a major threat to freedom.
If they disagree, so can we. Prove to me that your ideas are good for America.
You'll continue distorting it, of course.
You are a liar and a slanderer, as well as a commie ACLU stooge and an anti-Christian bigot.
You have to actually respect religion to enforce the neutrality.
However should they be neutral to methods that work? (*e.g. faith based programs to free people from drug abuse etc.?)
You didn't answer my question, man. That's usually an true indication of spiritual deadness, when someone tries to dodge this question.
The answer has eternal consequences. Be careful, my friend, that you deal with the answer.
Are you trying to give me a religious test for citizenship?
You are living in a world of perception, not reality. Even I addressed several of your 'fears' but you speak as if I did not.
The MSM didn't teach me my views. I learned them from sons of the American revolution. I learned them by reading the constitution. I learned them from reading the great minds of the Enlightenment. And I learned them by using common sense: the state has no business supporting religious groups. It especially has no justifiable cause in financing Islamic organizations.
That's my opinion, and I'm sticking to it.
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.................
You have to actually respect religion to enforce the neutrality.
Yes indeed, - if legislators support the Constitution they will insure the free exercise of religion. Urging them to write law based on the establishments of religion defeats that neutrality.
However should they be neutral to methods that work? (*e.g. faith based programs to free people from drug abuse etc.?)
Giving government money to religious organizations will only corrupt them, - bet on it. 194
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